The rapid growth in tourism in Georgia is NOT a reason to celebrate – but my 2017 definitely was! 

In 2015 I made a risky but also much-needed and exciting decision to change career and work in sustainable tourism in my bellowed Caucasus region. Fast forward 18 months, and great things started happening from the first days in 2017.

2017 reassured me that I made the right decision. It also confirmed my strong belief that sustainable tourism is the only way forward for tourism development in the Caucasus (and elsewhere!) as I saw over and over again what damage unsustainable tourism can do.

It started in January with the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT), the project I have been working on since Sept 2015, won the “Innovation of the Year” Award at the Adventure Travel Awards 2017. The Awards are the UK’s only awards dedicated to recognizing and rewarding the businesses and individuals who support, grow and promote the adventure travel industry through sustainable and responsible travel. We won it for “a genuine case of true trailblazing and innovation in every sense”. 

In February, we had a fantastic event at the Royal Geographical Society in London to promote the TCT and the Transcaucasian Expedition, with most of the team getting together in London – pretty unusual, considering we usually live on three different continents. Tom Allen gave a fun and inspiring talk to the 600+ audience. Here is the video of the talk.

In March, I went to my first ITB Berlin, wearing my TCT hat. My highlights, apart from catching up with the responsible tourism crowd from all over the world, was meeting Chris Doyle from the Adventure Travel Trade Association and other “trail people”: Muna Haddad from the Jordan Trail, Alex Crevar and Thierry Joubert from Via Dinarica, and Marta Cabral from Rota Vicentina (Portugal) discussing hiking, mountains, community engagement and the potential cooperation.

Straight after I wrote “White Men in Suits and Sustainable Tourism” for PATA Sustainability blog as a reaction to all-male, mostly white panels at ITB, challenging the organisers of the sustainable tourism events to invite more diverse speakers.

I carried on with my MSc in Responsible Tourism Management in Leeds and personally experienced what some alumni meant when they said the course is very intense but well-worth it. The course is UNWTO TedQual – certified for quality of tourism education, research and training programmes, and it celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a conference in Leeds in May. I presented the Challenges and opportunities for tourism development in the Caucasus region, and wrote about the conference for Travindy.

And in July, I went to Armenia to build the Transcaucasian Trail. This was an absolutely fantastic experience of building new friendships, chatting, exploring the wilderness of Armenia and eating way too much Armenian lavash (bread) and cheese with a fun group of international volunteers from all over the world. I never thought that digging for eight hours a day would be so therapeutic 😊

In September I started working on a new project in Georgia as a sustainability expert, in cooperation with the Georgian Government and the World Bank: to set up sustainable Destination Management Organisations in two regions. There are no DMOs in Georgia yet so this all very exciting!

And in November I spoke and moderated sessions at two great events on hiking and mountain tourism organised by the German Development Cooperation GIZ in the Caucasus. First at the “Mapping and Promotion of Hiking Trails” workshop in Yerevan (with GIZ Armenia), and then at the Tourism Cooperation Forum 2017 “Sustainable Mountain Resort Development” in Gudauri (with GIZ Georgia). The engaging discussions during both events proved what I had been preaching about every time I am in Georgia and Armenia: that sustainable tourism is the only way forward for the Caucasus region.

In December, I sealed off the year with two articles that I hope will provide food for thought for the tourism decision makers but also the practitioners on the ground: Tourism boom in Georgia – reasons to celebrate? Published by Travindy on 14 Dec, and Challenges for Sustainable Mountain Tourism in Georgia: Reflection on 2017 Issues published by Georgia Today on 18 Dec.

As I argued in the Travindy article, the rapid growth in tourism in Georgia is NOT a reason to celebrate – but my 2017 definitely was! Here is to another wonderful and productive 2018!